I have only had AppleCare on 3 devices; the 2 iPhones I purchased through Apple’s upgrade program, and my current iPP 11” (I’m doing the 5.99/month, which just feels less painful).
I’ll admit I’ve never had an issue, but last week when I took in my grandson’s 6th gen LTE iPad (bought last April, so 15 months old) with a useless, broken charging port, I was wishing all I had was a $25 deductible. Instead, my options were to pay $249 for a replacement on the spot, or walk out with a still broken iPad (which is what I did).
That being said, though it hurt in the moment, I’ve bought SO many i devices over the last 10 years that have never required repair, that I don’t think I could’ve justified paying for AppleCare for all of them. Obviously it’s a risk, but paying to replace the 6th gen will cost me a lot less than buying AppleCare on somewhere around 25 different phones and iPads over the last 5-6 years (yes, that many - I cycle through replacing/updating and handing down iPads for various grandkids annually, as well as buying my own phones/iPads - it’s pretty ridiculous).
I DO make sure all devices have screen protectors and cases from day 1 - that helps).